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Development and design

Jeff Letrotski is one of four ponies based on characters from The Big Lebowski: himself, based on and named after Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (played by Jeff Bridges), Walter, based on and named after Walter Sobchak, Jesús Pezuña, based on and named after Jesus Quintana, and another Earth pony stallion, based on Theodore Donald "Donny" Kerabatsos. Richard (the) Hoovenheart is named after Richard the Lionheart.

Meghan McCarthy stated on the homage to The Big Lebowski and easter eggs in the show, "Very rarely are those things written into the script, but then when it goes to Studio B and the board artists and Jayson Thiessen, supervising director, I think they have a lot of fun. They have to populate this world with these background ponies and they’re like ‘oh, they’re at a bowling alley, eh?’"[2] A fan's thought that the bowler stallions' inclusion in The Cutie Pox "was just the animators amusing themselves, rather than a sop to the adult audience" has been agreed to by Jayson Thiessen.[3]Tim Stuby "had nothing to do with Lebowski" ponies.[4]

Jeff Letrotski appears again in Trade Ya! as a food cart vendor at the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange. Here, his mane style is slightly different from previous appearances and his cutie mark is of an aluminum fryer basket.

Season five

In Slice of Life, Jeff Letrotski appears with Walter and "Theodore Donald "Donny" Kerabatsos" at the Ponyville bowling alley. In a speaking role, he agrees to tailor a suit for Dr. Hooves if he joins his team in a bowling championship game. The episode's closing credits refer to him as "Lebowski Pony".

The version of Jeff Letrotski present since respective March 25, 2014 and April 3, 2014 updates to the iOS and Android versions of the game has the names Richard (the) Hoovenheart and Richard the Hoovenheart, the same tail style as in Somepony to Watch Over Me and in Trade Ya! and in Slice of Life, the same outfit as in Simple Ways,[8] and the description "Virtuous and noble, Richard (the) Hoovenheart does all he can to live up to his name!"

Jesús Pezuña has the description "This highly competitive pony loves to bowl against his rival Jeff Letrotski… and does not like to lose."